


Another chance

by waiting_till_i_bloom_451



Category: Life with Derek
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waiting_till_i_bloom_451/pseuds/waiting_till_i_bloom_451
Summary: A woman as beautiful as Casey deserved to have poetry written about her, I mean personally I wouldn’t write them, nor if she was my girl would I ever let anyone think they could, because only I should get the pleasure of telling her she’s beautiful. But I can’t believe she’s right in front of me, wait what did she say…
Relationships: Casey McDonald/Derek Venturi
Kudos: 5





	Another chance

Casey was sitting in her favourite café, she loved entering the café and turning around to see her favourite reading area. This café was had an amazing reading nook, with burgundy sofa right in the middle and surrounding the area were a couple of chairs and tables in case the sofa was taken. 

Normally, I would’ve come in earlier so that I could just pick out my favourite book (Little woman) and just sink into that lovely sofa while sipping my Chai latte. But today it was all business, so after pushing down a sigh, I turn my eyes towards the quietest area I could find, set my coffee down and let the morning sun hit my face. It might be 8am on a Saturday and I should really be in my comfy bed, but I shrug the thought out of my head and start researching some material for my article.  
‘I’m really not in the mood for this. I really don’t understand why Stacey is so interested in this dancer, just seems like he’s a spoilt brat with a little bit parental influence and very little talent. I know Stacey just got hired as a new Editor, which I think is completely unfair because I’ve been a print journalist at Plie a lot longer and know the ins and out of the company. I should have been a shoe in for that position… I just still can’t believe it, Lisa had hinted that they were ready to promote me, I didn’t even have to interview but I still did to keep it fair.’

‘Okay, I’ve just got to let this go, it’s been weeks now and I didn’t start this job just to complain about this type of setbacks.’ I took a sip of my coffee, ‘I’m glad I kept this coffee black, because I really need the caffeine.’ I thought. 

Derek POV

Over on Derek’s side of things. He and his friends have just finished football practise and were making their way towards a quaint little café for a caffeine boast, before going for lunch…

‘Ugh for a Saturday this is way too early’ I heard Jake say

‘Come on guys Coach just wants us to get in some more training befo-‘I could hear John say before he was cut off.

‘We just had a game a few days ago, I thought at least today we could rest and maybe go out tonight and scout for some ladies’ Jake said with an enthusiasm we all wished he have when it came to training.

‘‘Please, the last time coach gave us the night off it was because he was hoping to get laid’’ I said 

‘Hahahahaha, shit man I remember that, the next day coach was so angry.’’ Jake laughed.

‘We all pretty much guessed that his night did not go the way he wanted it go, and worse off he took it out of us. UGH I still have nightmares about that day’ John sighed.

Ding!  
‘Hi guys any hot drinks’ said a cute red head

As Jake was getting our regular orders, I scanned around the café. I noticed the atmosphere was quiet and then my eyes laid on one person in particular. She was sitting right at the back, and I could see her frustration at the work she was focused on. This really seemed like her type of place to hang out and that thought alone made me laugh, it was so nostalgic, I walked over to her.

‘’Well I’ll be damned if it isn’t Keener Casey herself’’ 

Oh my gosh, that voice it sounds familiar please no let it not be who I’m thinking it is. I looked up and yes that devilish smirk and those gorgeous brown eyes were looking back at me. Derek, of all people, why did I have to see him. Ugh he looks just as handsome as ever, how does he keep his hair so perfectly messy and cute. I try to fight back the urge to blush because I felt like I had been staring a little too long.

‘’Still have grown out of the immature nicknames I see’’

‘’Oh, come on Casey, you know it suits you’’ he says

Right, ‘’so what can I do for you Derek?’’ I really did not feel like having this little back forth right now. As much as lived for these little moments in college, I was older now and a lot more self-aware. He just wants to get a rise out of me and make me all hot and bothered… talking to Derek like this only brought up memories of feelings that I just did not need right now.

‘’tut tut tut, Casey can’t a guy just come and say hi without feeling like he’s about to have his head chewed off’’ he said with a smile. ‘’It’s been a long time since you’ve seen me and I thought ‘ah to leave Casey without extending my greetings, would be a crime,’ and you know there’s no way I would do that to such a loyal fan’’.

‘’Who’s a loyal fan, is there someone who’s sitting behind me’’ I look back jokingly ‘’huh there’s no one there, Derek you might need to get a check-up, sounds like you’re not all the way there in the head’’ I say with a smirk. As much as I hated to admit it I was feeling a lot better, Derek always seemed to make me feel even a little bit better, albeit unintentionally but still it was always one of the things I liked about him, okay stop we decided never to bring those thoughts up. I think it’s time I go before I get too caught up in his pace.

‘Well Derek, it was pleasure (with all the sarcasm I could master) but I’ve got to go.’’ I start packing my things and get up to move but then he move to stop me. Ugh he smells amazing as well…

Ah it’s still just as easy to get a rise out of Casey, I thought. She looks amazing, her hair as long and as beautiful as I remember. Those cute freckles on her face, and her absolutely striking blue eyes, I would never admit it, but I can see what all those poets she always tried to get me hooked on were talking about. A woman as beautiful as Casey deserved to have poetry written about her, I mean personally I wouldn’t write them, nor if she was my girl would I ever let anyone think they could, because only I should get the pleasure of telling her she’s beautiful. But I can’t believe she’s right in front of me, wait what did she say…

She looks like she’s getting up, so I side stepped in front of her, ‘’Sorry Casey do you mind repeating that’’ 

‘’I said it was a pleasure, but I’ve got to go.’’ Wait no she can’t leave; we’ve only just started talking.

‘’Come on Casey it’s been ages, am sure wherever you’re going can’t be as interesting as catching up with me’’ trying to keep the panic from showing on my face. I need to at least get her number before she leaves. But she looks really adamant about it, ugh knowing Casey she’s already Keen to give me a very valid reason as to why she needs to go.

‘’At least… sigh, At least give me your number so that we can catch up later?’’ Uncharacteristic of me I know but I’ve learned with Casey, the ego and the bravado doesn’t always charm her in the slightest.

She looks at me, I can see her scanning my face for any signs that this is a joke, so I added ‘’Case, I mean it, it has been a while, (5 years is too long) and I just want to honestly chat and catch up’’ I offered her a smile (internally hoping she does, we were pretty close in college, I mean I wouldn’t have admitted out loud but she was one of the only people I could talk to about my messed up family life because she really got what it was like to be the oldest in a single parent household, (before my stupid dad married her mom, of course). At the end, we kind of drifted apart and I don’t know why. I really missed her, and I wasn’t going to let this chance slip away.

‘’Okay, here but I better not get any weird phone calls, I did not enjoy getting called at late hours in the night from people looking for a ‘good time’, Pass me your phone’’. She said 

Smiling I hand her my phone, ‘’it was only that one-time Casey’’ I laugh. But no its only going to me calling to ask that question’’ I winked at her. A faint blush appears but was gone as quickly as I noticed it. Heh still got that Venturi charm.

She gave me her number and with a smile I move out of the way. I can hear her mutter under her breath and before she’s too fair out of reach I shout, ‘Don’t worry I’m definitely going to call’. She looks back blushing furiously and quickly rushes out the shop. I was definitely going to enjoy talking to her tonight and hopefully I can convince her to catch up with me over dinner and drinks. 

Casey POV  
I can’t believe what just happened, sigh, I never thought I’d see him in person again I mean sure I watched his games and as hard as it was to move past those feelings I still needed to have some sort of connection with him so I always asked mom how he was doing. Of course I asked her not to tell him but I just, seeing him again was really nice and knowing we slide right back into our comfortable routine made me happy. He always knew how to make me relax, always knew how to make me flush. The way he’s eyes focused on mine when we fault was maddening, I never wanted to back down but being close to him in those moments was hard. Especially after…she blushed… a really intense fight we were so close to kissing, I thought about that moment so much I ended up buying a vibrator. Ugh I hate thinking back to it, it was so embarrassing having it around and hiding it when he came was even worse since I never knew when he would pull a prank on me.  
Being with Derek was always thrilling in that there was a never a dull moment, never a second where I felt like when we were fighting, I didn’t have his undivided attention. That’s why it was harder to bear when I saw him with different women. They always had the opportunity to be with Derek in a way that I couldn’t. To hear Derek whisper their names in ways that, even if he said my name like that, I could never act on the brewing heat that I felt in those moments. There were times when he would come up behind me, hand squeezing my waist and leaning in to say something and his touch would send shivers down my spine. But I had to maintain my composure, it had to be the same old routine, I would get mad at him for being that close but if anything I wanted… in that moment I wished so hard that we could be alone so I could grab him by the neck and finally kiss him in all the ways I imagined. It was like lightning and thunder every time we fought, I never wanted it to stop because I could fade away in those fights. I didn’t feel like his stepsister, I felt like his equal, the only one he could compete with, the only one out of the girls in his life that got to stay around him. 

But in the end that was the problem because that was the only role…I felt like I could have, every time he had a girlfriend or every time I came over and saw him without a shirt made me realise that I couldn’t have anymore. What I wanted to maintain was only ever going to get me so far and I wanted so much more. But Derek wasn’t a committed guy, there was no way he would want more from a ‘keener’ and worse his stepsister. I wonder if this is all a prank, I haven’t seen or spoken to him in a while, will he even call at that, do I even want him to call. 

Ring ‘’Hello?’’

‘’Hey, see I told you I would call’’

‘’Derek?’’ Oh my gosh I can’t believe he actually called

‘’The one and only, I thought I would allow you the pleasure of hearing my voice again since am sure you’re missing me already’’

‘’Ah so you called me so that you can hear yourself speak about how big your ego’’

‘’Casey, Casey, Casey, you already know how great I am there’s no need for me to keep reiterating it unless that’s what you want’’

‘’No, I’m alright thank you, so other than me stroking your ego by listening to you go on about yourself what do you want?’’

‘’Wow Casey, I don’t know what your thinking about, I was just following up on your request to call you’’

‘’What I didn’t ask you to call me’’

‘’I mean I distinctly remember you giving me your number and begging me, ‘Derek it’s been ages, here have my number, make sure you call-‘’

‘’Now I know your delusional that never happened at all, you came up to me while I was working and bothered me until I gave you my number. I honestly trust you to turn all situati-‘’

‘’So do you want to go out with me Friday night for dinner?’’

‘’on… wait what did you say?’’

‘’See Casey and you say I don’t listen, I said Friday, you, me, dinner at 8pm so we can catch up and all that Jazz’’

‘’Oh…you… do you really mean that? This isn’t some prank right, because if it is Derek I swear to-‘’

‘’So I’ll take that as a Yes, I’m sorry I have training earlier on so I wont be able to pick up (even though I really want to) but the I’ll text you the details of the place is that okay?’’

Wait did Derek just say he’s sorry, what the heck is going on here. This is a date he’s asking me on right but he said that it’s to catch up and stuff so I might be reading into it a bit much. But if it’s not a date then what could it be, first of all I still can’t even believe he apologised, and he’s planned a whole thing.

‘’Hello, Casey you still there? Is that okay with you?’’

‘’Um yeah…that’s fine 8pm on Friday is great’’

Hey Derek! I hear over the phone ‘’Sorry Case I’m gonna have to go but I’ll text you later, okay?’’

He said sorry again … ‘’Um yeah that cool, speak to you later.’’

Derek POV  
The dinner went as I expected, Casey showed up looking absolutely beautiful, I thought I was going to collapse right there and then. I put on my usual bravado and she countered back with her usual fire responses, it was honestly amazing how easy it was to talk to Casey. I missed our arguments, our talks, I missed just being around her, just knowing that even after all these years I… After all these years she still makes me smile and I hope that never ever changes. We caught up on what’s been going, me being the hockey star that I am. I went on to brag that she’s lucky to in the presence of greatness. She laughed and I couldn’t help but notice her cute freckles again. I’m happy to hear that even if she’s not carrying on with dancing, she’s still trying her best because she loved dancing. Working at Pile gave her the opportunity to be as close to dance as she could. Casey respected the way other dancers could go all in and follow their passion, their joy, all the things that she just couldn’t find in herself anymore. Being a Journalist meant she could give dancers advice about the best teachers or dance studios. How to juggle dancing as well as part time jobs and doing this, helping other people filled a void she didn’t know she had after quitting.

After listening to her I wished with all my heart that I could’ve been there for her but also it also reminded the kind of strength Casey had. When she cared for something there was nothing that could stop her, if I had that type of stuff, I would’ve confessed to her by now and consequences be damned. 

‘’Derek are you even listening?’’

‘’Oh sorry I was lost in my own thoughts there, could you repeat that?’’

‘’Hmm, I was saying now that the cheque and stuff is payed for, did you want to go for drinks or something,’’ she said with a blush.

‘’Oh Casey are you, Dare I say, enjoying my company?’’

‘’Wha - If you don’t want to it’s fine, I was only offering, its oka-‘’

‘’Yes Casey I accept your invitation to take me out for drinks, it had better be a nice place, I only deserve the best you see.’’

‘’it’s wasn’t an invitation Derek, it was just, ugh your actually insufferable, let’s go.’’

Casey POV  
Today was so weird, Derek was gentlemanly, even more charming that usual, if that possible. He paid for both the dinner and drinks and now he’s even dropping me off. I don’t know what to think, this was probably one of the best dates I’ve had in a while, I mean, if it was even date, was it a date, should I ask? No, if anything he should say if it’s a date, right? I mean, ugh am thinking too much now. But looking at him again he really looked great today, I’m glad I dressed up. 

‘’What are you smiling about Casey, what are you thinking about?’’ 

‘’Oh I was wondering if this was a Date,’’ Wait did I just say that ‘’hold up, that’s not what I mean, I just meant with all the stuff and you paying and‘’

‘’Well I mean, I think of this as a date, so I hope you do as well,’’ He said as he took my hand while he’s beautiful brown eyes caught my own. 

Well that answered my question, but was I ready for, to actually be with Derek like this. What would our family think, what would people think? I felt Derek squeeze my hand, his hand was cold, trembling slightly. I laugh a little, he’s really… ‘’Yes Derek, I think this is date, it was a pretty great one at that,’’ I said with a smirk. Derek has always been able to reassure me, so for once I’ll just push aside these thoughts and just trust in my heart. I picked my family before and put it to the fact that we were young, but the feelings never really went away, this time I am going to follow my heart. I want to see if we can actually make this work. So I summoned all the courage I could muster and kissed him. He seemed shocked at first, but then he kissed me back and I felt a shock of pleasure that ran through my whole body. He pulled me closer to deepen the kiss, my hands resting on his chest, I can honestly say it was the perfect to end the night.

Derek POV

I really missed Casey a lot and I did not want to admit that because drifting apart from her was the hardest thing ever. But that kiss, ugh, I never thought that something could feel so good. During college I always thought, great I can finally have a life separate from Casey again, a chance to finally maybe get over these stupid thoughts that I had about her because I was really tired of cold showers. The first couple weeks on campus were amazing because I was on the hockey team and I was doing really good. Going out with Sam, the lads and experiencing all new ways to get fucked drinking as well as getting laid was amazing. It was an amazing first year, but as my grades started dropping, I had to buckle up which meant going to the library. I expected that to see Casey in the library because I just assumed that’s where she would be spending all her years at college. To my surprise I only saw her a few times and when I finally went up to talk to her, she told me that she only actually had a life. Not gonna lie it shocked me to hear that she was actually enjoying her student life like a normal person, I even joked ‘’wow I guess you finally left planet keener to actually join the rest of us huh.’’ 

That’s not to say she wasn’t still studying but she was just going out, drinking, partying, and all sorts of things. I was kind of jealous of all the people that got to experience this new Casey, so I invited her to a party I was throwing. At first, she said no but I convinced her and from then on, we actually got closer. Unconsciously I would always end up at her place, until eventually I couldn’t even blame it on just being bored, I genuinely enjoyed spending time with her. But the more time I spent with her, meant the more time I spent actually looking at her. Now obviously we stayed in the same house back then, so I would’ve had to look at her, hence the cold showers, but now there was no STEP being added into the mix. When I was with her at college, I didn’t have to think about that because here no one knew us like that. It started off small, but I was getting used to touching her, putting my hand over her shoulder or on her waist to pull her in close, the excuse would be that I needed to tell her something. But it was because I was getting addicted to her reactions, her blushing, her sighing at my touch, I wanted so much more. 

But that would mean crossing a line that I wasn’t sure I was ready for, hence the sleeping around. I needed to put that energy somewhere else, but I also loved seeing her reaction when I wasn’t wearing a top. She started wearing shorter clothes when she knew I was going to stop by, it was honestly torture, but it was tit for tat. It was how it was because I think we were both too young for that sort of step. I hated seeing her date but I was doing the same so I could only keep telling her she had bad taste in men, which she had, but that’s beside the point. But slowly she started drifting away and it happened in a way I didn’t even realise. Both of us were starting to get busier, I had a girl who for the most part I liked, who she seemed like she was sticking around. I didn’t change how I acted around Casey, but she would lessen the amount of time we spent together whenever I was in a relationship anyway, (much to my dismay) so I didn’t think of it at the time. Once final year came around, I realise that we had seen each other in ages, I wasn’t even running into her as often and she had been taking my calls less and less. Well me being me, I tried confronting her, but it was futile, so my pride got the better of me and I wish I did a bit more, but I didn’t because I really didn’t do feelings then. 

But, meeting her like this and talking to her, I missed a lot of her life after college some of which I wanted to be there for. So this chance isn’t one that I’m gonna take lightly, I really want to be with Casey, I just hope I can convince her that regardless of the obstacles we can be together.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys this is my second Life with Derek story. I am still developing my writing so any constructive criticism would be great! Obviously please be nice haha, but It's complete for now but I will be adding to it. I'll make sure to try and end each added section properly so that it doesn't feel too much like a cliffhanger.


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